Jailed: Ashleigh Loder, 25, of Devon, wasted at least 100 hours of police time by inventing the assaults

A young mother has been jailed for making two false rape claims within hours of drunkenly sleeping with a friend’s partner.

Ashleigh Loder, 25, wasted at least 100 hours of police time by inventing the assaults.

She first told officers she had been attacked by two strangers in an alley before changing her story to say a man she knew had forced her to have sex in her home.

However the friend she had accused was able to prove his innocence because he had filmed the sexual encounter on his mobile phone.

The footage showed Loder, a mother-of-two from Bideford, Devon, was a willing and active sexual participant.

She was drunk on vodka and invented her story because the partner of the man with whom she’d had sex was a friend.

She feared the consequences of the other woman finding out what they had done. She broadcast her rape claims around Bideford and the man was forced to stay inside for two weeks to avoid reprisals, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Loder admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for six months.

Judge Phillip Wassall told her: ‘The man was branded a rapist locally and it caused him considerable distress and suffered threats within the local area and lost time off work.

‘One can only imagine what it is like to be accused of a very serious crime which could carry a sentence of around six years.’

Jonathan Barnes, prosecuting, said Loder called the police on the night of December 1 and said two strangers had raped her in an alley near her home as she left for a night out.

Hearing: Loder admitted perverting the course of justice and was jailed for six months at Exeter Crown Court

But forensic checks at the scene and on her clothing cast doubt on her story. Instead of admitting her lies she then created a fresh fiction, accusing her friend’s partner of rape.

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He was able to prove his innocence with the images of their encounter on his phone. Loder had also sent him a text with the alley rape claim, which cast doubt on her version of events.

Mr
Barnes said: ‘The allegations had a considerable effect on him. They
were bandied about the area and he had to live like a recluse for two
weeks.

'Her life was a complete dream and she convinced herself she had been raped'

Greg Richardson, defending

'He lost two stone in weight through the stress and had problems sleeping.’

Greg Richardson, defending, said of Loder: ‘Her life was a complete dream and she convinced herself she had been raped. Who knows what was going on in her mind but she believed something within her had said no.

'She says the situation she got into was rock bottom. She wishes to apologise sincerely to the man.’